Spingold Design & Print has installed a Horizon RD-N4055DM Rotary Die-Cutter supplied by Intelligent Finishing Systems (IFS) to help maintain its position in the high quality playing and gaming cards market.
The Suffolk-based general commercial printer began building up its card business, including game, quiz, trump, and Tarot cards around 2015. Today, it sells through two B2C websites, Printfromyoursofa.co.uk and Playingcardspersonalised.co.uk.
During the pandemic demand increased dramatically and helped Spingold double its turnover from £600,000 to £1.2 million today. The company took on three people who had lost their jobs at other printers. In 2021 it invested in a Konica Minolta AccurioPress C14000 which runs alongside two Xerox Versant 180s. The new investment was supported by a £25,000 grant from the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership Growth Through Innovation Fund delivered via Suffolk County Council.
Spingold Managing director Ed Oakes explained, ‘We had our eye on a rotary die cutter for a long time. We have two Duplo systems but wanted something the next level up with a dual cylinder. We first saw a Horizon system at a Dscoop event in 2018 but that one was only a single cylinder. Then the dual cylinder was launched and we saw that in Germany. We already knew Horizon systems were incredibly well built. It was a fantastic piece of kit.’
‘We wanted a dual cylinder because the ability to crease inline will save us an enormous amount of time. It will improve our quality and speed of output as well as enable us to increase our capacity by as much as 40% which will give us some breathing space and room to grow. It will help cement us as a front runner in the market.
‘It has come in at the right time so we can be ready for our busiest period in the summer when we produce work for those who sell on Amazon at Christmas. If our growth carries on the way it has, or even at half the pace, it should pay for itself in two years.’
